Lumpy Gravy – A Ride in the Pine Nuts

Saturday, my buddy Scott (the one working on the Bike Carson logo) and I met at the Pine Nuts for a ride. It was sunny and clear with a decent breeze; perfect riding weather. We headed out from the main parking area where they stage the races and followed the road for about a mile before splitting off for some single track. In no time, we hit snowy sections and mud. Lots of it. Recent motorcycle traffic meant it was muddy and rutted. The undulating terrain was such that even non-north facing areas had snow and mud and just when it seemed we were on a good section, we’d turn a corner and be staring at snowfields and mud. It was very distraughtening.

A mile or two of this and no improvement in the conditions, we took the next jeep road which was dry and rode up that for awhile on a slight climb. After a lot of slogging and stop and plops thru snow, this was nice and it cleared the tires. We followed the road uphill for a mile or two and tried to figure out where some drier single track might be. Where the road split we found an impromptu landfill and stopped to consider the route options.

Unfortunately, the rear bumper on this old Ford was missing/was buried in trash, otherwise I might have found a Keep Nevada Rural bumper sticker. You could however catch up on the Febrary ’05 issue of Mountain Bike Action if you missed it.

Scott knows the trails out here quite well and thought if we continued on either fork of the road, up into the canyon, we’d likely run into more snow and mud, even on the road. So we turned around and backtracked until we reached Pine Nut road, hung a right and about a half mile up, crossed to the other side and picked up a narrow double track that segued into a good long, dry section of single track with great flow. This was a fun section, fast and packed with tight turns, rollers, whoop-de-doos, short climbs and some fast downhills.

We followed this all the way back to Pine Nut road, directly across from the parking area. By now, the bikes were mostly mud-free and put away when a heavy thirst set it. This was slaked by a brace of Dale’s Pale Ale and a Frank Zappa’s Lumpy Gravy ale from the Lagunitas Brewing Co.

Just think, that POS once sat on some new car lot all shiny and proud. Some greasy salesman was touting its towing capacity and reliability to some guy who needed to haul stuff. All just someone’s distant memory, an internet photo and a target now.

wolfy, i wish the dale’s was available here. my brother smuggled some out of CO to ID over xmas and i spirited it across the border into NV. turns out it’s available in idaho now too. despite my best rationing efforts, the current supply is dwindling.